16 April 1932
Everton v West Ham
Everton
Sagar, Williams, Cresswell, Clark, Gee, Thomson, Critchley, Dunn, Dean, Johnson, Stein
West Ham United
Hufton, Goodacre, Chalkley, Norris, Barrett, Cadwell, Wood, Yews, Watson, Phillips, Morton
Often the game that actually wins the title is not the best one during a title winning campaign. And that was certainly true when Everton became champions in 1932.
After a swashbuckling season, one in which Everton at times destroyed opposing sides, the club rather limped home over the line, defeating Bolton Wanderers 1-0 in a scrappy game which the Liverpool Post and Mercury described as ‘the kind of match one generally associates with relegation problems rather than winning league championships’.
And by that point in the club’s history, Everton had certainly learned a thing or two about ‘relegation problems’, not least during the period sandwiched in between the title wins of 1928 and 1932.
For a time in the late 1920s and early 1930s there existed two different and wildly contrasting versions of Everton. There was the side led by the talismanic Dean, which was capable of laying waste to all comers. And then there was the side that played without Dean, which consistently struggled, so over-dependent was it on him.
The cost of this over-dependence had been felt a few years earlier when an injury afflicted couple of seasons for their dominant centre-forward had seen Everton struggle and eventually drop into the second tier; the first time that had ever happened to the club. Everton had powered back immediately but once again, done so with Dean fit and leading by example.
While in the lower division, changes had been made to the team with the aim of addressing the squad’s weaknesses.
The addition of the powerfully built centre-half Charlie Gee (bought from Stockport County), the acquisition of talented inside-left Tommy Johnson (bought from Manchester City) and the improved form of the tricky inside-right, Jimmy Dunn (who had finally cemented a place in the first team) had gone some way to addressing Everton’s shortcomings (albeit in a lower division). The test now would be to see if this form could be translated to the top flight.
Everton began the campaign well and by the end of September sat in sixth place. Although impressive, it wasn’t a flawless start. There were defeats against Manchester City and Derby County and continued references in the local press to the lack of connection between the full-backs and the half-backs (defence and midfield to modern readers).
But any concerns were blown away by a period of form characterised by a spate of goalscoring that stands as one of the most impressive in Everton’s entire history. In roughly a six week period, Sheffield Wednesday were dispatched 9-3, Newcastle United 8-1, Chelsea 7-2 and Leicester City 9-2.
‘It is remarkable’ wrote John Peel (no relation) in the Post and Mercury ‘how Everton have reduced good sides to mere common place combination on their own ground in recent weeks.’
It was a run that took the club to the top of the table, a position barely surrendered for the remainder of the campaign. Although the rampant goalscoring eased, the victories continued to pile up and several sides were still sent packing by fairly hefty margins, such as Middlesbrough (5-1), Blackburn Rovers (5-0) and Sheffield United (5-1).
Of the ‘Dixieland’ era, this was Everton’s most complete side. They were more resilient at the back, conceding just 64 goals all season. They scored freely, finding the net on 116 occasions (a higher figure than the breathtaking 1927/8 campaign). And they were less reliant on Dean too. In the previous title winning season, Troup had come closest to Dean in the scoring stakes with ten goals (50 less than Dixie). In the 1931/2 campaign, Johnson chipped in with 22 and White with 18. These two complemented Dean’s more modest (yet still hugely impressive) 45. In this side, Everton’s other forwards were shouldering much more of the burden.
As the run-in approached, Everton welcomed West Ham to Goodison Park. The Blues were in touching distance of an improbable title. Improbable, because it would mean that Everton would become only the second team to have won the league straight after being promoted (the other being Liverpool in 1906.)
On the back of a nine game unbeaten run, a surge in form that had done much to put them in a position of strength in the title race, the Blues were also in good spirits as ‘Pilot’ from the ****** discovered when he had accompanied them on a short break a few weeks earlier:
‘We are the lads from Goodison Park –ooh! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah!” With this battle cry Everton are marching forward to the attainment of the dearest ambition –the winning of the Football League championship. It was only last week-end, while I was touring with the Blues that I learned of this collegiate war cry. It awakened the tranquil townsfolk of Reigate as we motored through to Brighton for the invigorating brine-baths. It is no exaggeration to say that I was deeply impressed with the splendid feeling of comradeship, which pervades the entire team … A happier or better band of players it would be impossible to find. They are practical jokers everyone; and few people escape the gentle, harmless leg pulling, but still those same men are determined to bring that championship to Liverpool.’ WHERE?
Against West Ham, Everton ran out unchanged, while the visitors made drastic alterations, with three outside-rights included in the attack. This, combined with the Hammers’ lowly position in the league suggested an easy win for Everton.
But their opponents were fighting for survival, making them a tricky adversary to play against. West Ham were hovering above the relegation zone and keen to reverse a run of dismal form. The Hammers were also only one of a handful of teams that had beaten the Blues that season.
From the off it was evident that here were two teams with something to play for, with both sides carving out early chances. As it was, much to the delight of the Goodison crowd, Everton were the first to draw blood:
‘Stein ran for a bouncing pass, and by a gentle header raced passed Goodacre and cut to the goal line. He made a low centre, which Barrett allowed to pass between his legs, and Dean being on the spot banged the ball into the net under Hufton’s falling body’ wrote ‘Pilot’ in the Evening Express.
On the front foot, Everton continued to press and just a few minutes later extended their lead, when Stein bagged a second for the Blues. He had Dean for the chance, who had gathered a bouncing pass, drawn the the defence to him and then placed a square ball across to the running Stein. The Scot gave Hufton no chance with his left footed shot.’
If any of those gathered believed that Everton were in for an easy ride, West Ham were soon to prove otherwise (in the first half at least). They came back at Everton, putting pressure on a back line that appeared tentative and surprisingly vulnerable. And around 20 minutes in they got their break when Wood’s cross was knocked back to Cresswell, who drove his shot into the roof of the net.
Although Everton were the more threatening of the two sides, hitting the woodwork and making Hufton the busier of the keepers, West Ham remained dangerous and when the half-time whistle blew, with the scoreline 2-1, it was unclear who would come out on top.
West Ham had worked tirelessly in the first half, making life hard for the Everton front men, while breaking decisively to put the opposition defence under pressure. Perhaps they had expended too much energy or perhaps, ultimately, the gulf between these two clubs that the table illustrated made itself felt. Whatever the reason, the second half could not have been more different from the first.
‘West Ham were hardly seen, and it almost developed into a case of Hufton against Everton … Everton were right on top, and really it only seemed a question of how many they would get” wrote ‘Pilot’.
Two quick goals 15 minutes into the half, one from Johnson and the other from Dean did little to help the cause of the Hammers. At 4-1 and facing a rampant Everton, there seemed no way back into the game.
‘And once Hufton’s superlative display had been curbed…the London side collapsed’ reported ‘Bee’ in the Post and Mercury.
Dean scored again on 75 minutes and Johnson nicked his second of the day in the dying minutes (illustrating how his presence in the side had done much to provide Everton with another valuable goal outlet).
At the end, Everton’s 6-1 victory put them in a commanding position in the league. The title was theirs to lose. Despite some ropey form thereafter, they put it beyond dispute in that dismal match against Bolton towards the end of April. The game’s solitary goal came from Dean when he headed Critchley’s cross just inside the far post. It would be the only time Everton would find the net in the club’s last four games (as though that deluge against West Ham represented the last hurrah of that season’s free-wheeling side).
For the fans, the title victory capped the end of one of the most dramatic rollercoaster rides ever endured by any English football club. From the summit of Division One, down to Division Two and then back to the summit of the top flight in just a few seasons. Being an Evertonian had become an exercise in masochism.
This is an edited extract from Everton’s Greatest Games
JIM KEOGHAN 